Abstract

ANGEL VALENZUELA, M. What’s new in metacognition? Review of the concept, its components and related terms. Educ. Pesqui. [online]. 2019, vol.45, e187571.  Epub Mar 28, 2019. ISSN 1678-4634.  https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-4634201945187571.

Research on metacognition is around four decades old. However, there are still discrepancies about its meaning and the processing mechanisms involved. Therefore, the objective of this review is to clarify the concept, how it works, and its components. In order to do so, a historical tour of the research on this topic was carried out, which allowed to configure an updated conceptual framework that accounts for the theoretical proposals on the concept, its components and the terms related to it. Basically, Scopus, WoS and SCielo databases after 2000 were reviewed using metacognition and metacognitive strategies as key words. My attempt is to answer the questions: how has metacognition been defined over the last years? And what is said about the components, subcomponents, and related terms? Regarding the conceptual proposal, it is emphasized that this is a second-order cognitive process, which is activated under certain conditions (eg., complex tasks such as reading and writing in higher education) in order to monitor and regulate cognitive processes. On the components, those proposed by Flavell and Brown are preserved: knowledge and regulation of cognition. However, other key concepts are added (metacognitive judgments and their different varieties). In conclusion, metacognition is undoubtedly a relevant research field in which there are still questions to be clarified.

Keywords : Metacognition; Knowledge of cognition; Regulation of cognition.

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